Recorded: Monday Jul 29, 2013
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Episode Description: Opening with a Kazism, Tanahashi Sensei asserts that “Mahayana Buddhism without the Heart Sutra is like breakfast without a bagel.” He then suggests that the core teaching of the sutra, sunyata, traces its roots to the Prajna Paramita scriptures from the 1st century CE. Prajna Paramita, or Perfection of Wisdom, started in the form of an eight thousand line scripture and was then expanded to twenty-five thousand lines and one hundred thousand lines. The Heart Sutra is a condensation of these teachings. In fact, the bulk of the Heart Sutra comes directly from the Prajna Paramita In Twenty-Five Thousand Lines. Kaz notes that the first part of the Heart Sutra came from a different source, because there is no mention of Avalokitesvara in the Prajna Paramita. And while the Heart Sutra does not directly address compassion, the inclusion of the Bodhisattva of Compassion implies its importance to wisdom. Sensei Irene then continues the talk by suggesting that while we can’t really understand what wisdom beyond wisdom means, we can realize it. We can realize it by manifesting compassion in our daily lives. She goes on to explain the Four Brahmaviharas and the meaning of the depiction of Avalokitesvara as having eleven heads and one thousand arms. Sensei Irene concludes with a discussion of the koan, “Yunyan’s Great Compassion,” Case 54 from the Shoyoroku, Book of Serenity
For Series Description and teacher BIO, please see Part 1.
To access the entire series, please click on the link below:
Sesshin: Exploring The Heart Sutra Series: All 5 Parts